Predictors of abstinence from heavy drinking during treatment in COMBINE and external validation in PREDICT.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The goal of the current study was to use tree-based methods (Zhang and Singer, 2010, Recursive Partitioning and Applications, 2nd ed. Springer, New York) to identify predictors of abstinence from heavy drinking in COMBINE (Anton et al. JAMA 2006; 295:2003), the largest study of pharmacotherapy for alcoholism in the United States to date, and to validate these results in PREDICT (Mann et al. Addict Biol 2012; 18:937), a parallel study conducted in Germany.

Methods

We compared a classification tree constructed according to purely statistical criteria to a tree constructed according to a combination of statistical criteria and clinical considerations for prediction of no heavy drinking during treatment in COMBINE. We considered over 100 baseline predictors. The tree

SUBMITTER: Gueorguieva R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4397985 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature